Sonia Gandhi's veiled attack on Narendra Modi, says some only daydream about power

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi targeted BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi for the first time in the campaign for the upcoming assembly elections, saying in successive rallies in Madhya Pradesh on Friday that the main opposition party's leaders were daydreaming of winning and were busy pulling each other down.

A day after Modi said Sonia Gandhi should hand over the reins of her party to her son Rahul, the Congress chief launched a no-holds-barred attack on the Gujarat chief minister without taking his name.

"BJP leaders are daydreaming about power...They are so engrossed in their greed for power that they are pulling each other down...If they think they can win hearts of the people by using flowery language, they are mistaken. India is not just any other country," Gandhi said at an election rally in Khargone in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.

India represents a thought that gives much regard to composite culture and principles of brotherhood, compassion and sacrifice, Gandhi said, "They have never understood it nor will they ever understand. They turn a brother against a brother for their selfish ends. There is a need to be cautious about them."

Countering Modi's allegation that the Centre made false claims of sending huge funds to the states, she said the people of Madhya Pradesh should ask in "whose pockets these funds have gone".

Gandhi took on Modi for the first time in the run-up to five assembly elections, marking a shift from her earlier speeches that focused on Congress' promises and questioned BJP's development record. The Congress president also took on the Shivraj Chouhan government on its development claims.

Charging the BJP with misrule in MP over the past decade, she said the state had lagged behind in education, health and employment opportunities, and said there was a need for change.

"There are corruption charges against 13 ministers lodged with the Lokayukta. But has any investigation been initiated against them?" she asked, and alleged that jobs under the Centre's MGNREGA scheme launched in the state had gone to contractors instead of common people.

Addressing an election meeting in Rewa, Gandhi claimed that under BJP rule Madhya Pradesh had become the number one state in crime, including atrocities on women. "Not only crimes, but Madhya Pradesh is also number one in rape and atrocities on women," she said.

There has been rampant malnutrition which has claimed the lives of a large number of children and farmers are living in a very poor condition, she said.